How to put Targeted Hygiene into practice?
Targeted Hygiene recognises the main sources of infection in our homes and everyday lives are not places that we see as “dirty” – but people, contaminated food and pets.
During our daily lives, there are 9 Key Moments when harmful microbes are most likely to be spreading such that we can become exposed and infected. These are the key times when we need to practice Targeted Hygiene.
The Targeted Hygiene approach communicates hygiene actions in the order in which people need to hear it.
Firstly, it identifies the moments in daily lives WHEN practising hygiene is important as shown in fig (e.g handling raw foods or using the toilet).
Secondly, people need to be able to recognise “WHERE” to act at that moment to prevent spreading etc).
Thirdly, it identifies HOW to practice hygiene in those places (e.g. handwashing, surface cleaning, mask wearing).
Rather than communicating hygiene through written prescriptive guidance that needs to be remembered, this approach can be communicated through visual images and prompts, to develop a better understanding of what effective hygiene means and how it differs from cleanliness.
An issue that now dominates strategic planning is the importance of sustainability. A key advantage of Targeted Hygiene is that it works to avoid unnecessary use of chemical products, thereby reducing environmental impacts. It is also less time consuming and less likely to lead to hygiene fatigue and failure to sustain hygiene behaviours.
